Polls committee provides hotline, mail box services
Polls committee provides hotline, mail box services
JAKARTA (JP): The National General Elections Monitoring
Committee will open hotline telephone and mail box services for
people to report of any wrongdoing committed in the run up and
during the 1997 general elections, a committee official says.
"People can immediately inform us by phone, facsimile, or mail
if they find any violations during the whole process of the 1997
general elections," Hari Haryono, secretary to the National
General Elections Monitoring Committee, said yesterday.
Speaking to reporters at the Attorney General's Office, Hari
said that all reports of wrongdoing will instantly be responded
to whenever they reach the committee secretariat.
However the monitoring committee would only follow up on
reports which are clear and reasonable, he added.
"The sender has to give complete information, state his or her
complete address and personal data," he said.
The monitoring committee has not decided on the numbers of the
hotline telephone and mail box services, but guaranteed that the
services will be opened by the time voters' registration begin in
May.
Registration will be carried out between May 1 and July 20.
Hari said the monitoring committee will only monitor the
implementation of five stages of the poll's overall 12 stages.
The monitoring committee will supervise voters' registration,
the election campaign, ballot casting, vote counting, and the
establishment of the poll's result, he said.
The monitoring committee for general elections is staffed with
top government and military officials, as well as representatives
of the three election contestants -- the ruling Golkar, the
United Development Party (PPP) and the Indonesian Democratic
Party (PDI).
Among the 16 members of the committee are Lt. Gen. Mohammad
Ma'ruf and Maj. Gen. Arie J. Kumaat from the Armed Forces (ABRI),
and Abdul Gafur and Agung Laksono from Golkar.
Others include Yudo Paripurno and Tosari Widjaja of the PPP,
Panangian Siregar and Ismunandar of the PDI, and A. Hamid Effendi
and Suko Martono from the government.
Hari said the monitoring committee members will be divided
into three groups. "One group will monitor the general elections
stages in the western Indonesia, the second group in the central
Indonesia, and the third in eastern Indonesia."
Hari ruled out the possibility of abolishing the "silent week"
after the campaign from the 1997 general elections, saying that
the whole week will be used by all the general elections
committee nationwide to hold preparations for balloting day.
"How can we tidy up and organize the security arrangements if
the silent week is used for campaign sessions," he said.
He said the silent week is stipulated in the Law No.1/1985 on
the general elections.
The silent week is intended to cool off the situation after
the usually tense, and often violent, election campaign before
polling day.
PDI chairperson Megawati Soekarnoputri and PPP chairman Ismail
Hasan Metareum this week suggested that the "silent week" should
be abolished because it had been abused by Golkar to intimidate
voters.
Hari also maintained that all violations occurred during the
previous general elections, have been followed up with court
proceedings.
"There were 1,092 criminal violations, 975 administrative
violations, and 524 political violations. All were settled in
courts."
Ismail Hasan however has maintained that none of the
violations that his party reported to the election monitoring
committee had been followed up, let alone prosecuted. (imn)